Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Significant Objects (Short Stories, Social Experiment Book)

Significant Objects edited and partially written by Rob Walker and Joshua Glenn has been my lunchtime companion for the last few months. It is an odd little book that I found at Half Priced Books. It almost said: “I’m coming home with you, you know.” I was looking for a book of short stories, and this seemed to fit the description. When I got it home, I wasn’t so sure. Maybe it is a book of short stories; maybe it is some odd hybrid. Yet what it has been is thoroughly engrossing. “So, what do you have for me today, my odd little lunch companion?”
I wondered each day.

Significant Objects began as a social experiment. Walker and Glenn acquired over a hundred odd objects: for example, a necking team button, a duck vase, a rooster oven mitt, a seal pen, a motel key. Some were given to them. Some they bought at flea markets or thrift stores for very little money. The editors then asked authors to write fictional stories about the objects. Pictures of the objects and their stories were posted on E-bay, clearly indicating that that the stories were fictional. Part of the experiment was to see how the stories increased the value of the objects.

The book describes the experiment and contains the pictures and stories.
The book is not slick. The photographs leave a lot to be desired. Many of the objects are on the pathetic side. But, I enjoyed the stories; many are odd, some touching, some horrifying, most clever. Most of the stories can be read in a minute or two. This odd book is the perfect companion for those odd moments when we just need a tiny bit of entertainment.